HELP (home's hingeback tortoise) care

hingeback

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Hi everybody, I am a new member here and I am getting a home's hingeback tortoise soon and it will be staying in an outdoor habitat. I have a few questions and hope you all could help me out.

1.Is philippine grass safe for it?
2.Will raining affect it?
3.Is it okay if it only eats vegetables, grass and leaves?
4.Because home's hingebacks are diggers and climbers, the fence will start 1 foot underground to 2/3 foot above. Should I start deeper and end higher?
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

I don't know anything about that species, but I think if would be helpful if our hingeback people knew what kind of climate you live in (where are you?).
 

Lyn W

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Hi and welcome. A member called @FLINTUS has offered advice about hingebacks on other threads before so I have tagged him so that if he still visits the forum he will see your post. @Anyfoot may also be able to help.
There is a Hingeback section under Species Specific where you may pick up some tips and also use the search facility to see if that throws out any answers.
 

Anyfoot

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Hi everybody, I am a new member here and I am getting a home's hingeback tortoise soon and it will be staying in an outdoor habitat. I have a few questions and hope you all could help me out.

1.Is philippine grass safe for it?
2.Will raining affect it?
3.Is it okay if it only eats vegetables, grass and leaves?
4.Because home's hingebacks are diggers and climbers, the fence will start 1 foot underground to 2/3 foot above. Should I start deeper and end higher?

Hi and welcome.
@tortadise is your man for this species.

Dont know about Philippine grass.
Homes hingebacks (homeana) love rain.
This species needs to be kept very humid and wet. They need a watering hole to climb into. Mine love to sit in the water all day. Your temps should be around the 25° mark.

You can't just feed greens, they have a very large appetite for protein. In the form of worms,slugs and snails. Also feed plenty of mushrooms.
Your fence sounds good, make sure there are no horizontal lats on the fence that they can climb up. These guys can climb very well.
Be sure they have plenty of space, they can be very territorial, also plenty of hides, pile some dried leaves in your enclosure, they will feel secure hiding in leaves.

Dont forget the photos when you get them. :)
 

Anyfoot

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Hi everybody, I am a new member here and I am getting a home's hingeback tortoise soon and it will be staying in an outdoor habitat. I have a few questions and hope you all could help me out.

1.Is philippine grass safe for it?
2.Will raining affect it?
3.Is it okay if it only eats vegetables, grass and leaves?
4.Because home's hingebacks are diggers and climbers, the fence will start 1 foot underground to 2/3 foot above. Should I start deeper and end higher?
Almost forgot. They don't like it too bright, so be sure to offer plenty of cover, plant life would be ideal.
 

hingeback

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By the way, what mushrooms should I feed it and how often to feed worms? Mealworms should be fine?
 

tortadise

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Welcome. Homes favor Andy type of mushroom from buttons to oysters, worms and flesh fruit should be mixed with greens.
 

hingeback

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Hi and welcome.
@tortadise is your man for this species.

Dont know about Philippine grass.
Homes hingebacks (homeana) love rain.
This species needs to be kept very humid and wet. They need a watering hole to climb into. Mine love to sit in the water all day. Your temps should be around the 25° mark.

You can't just feed greens, they have a very large appetite for protein. In the form of worms,slugs and snails. Also feed plenty of mushrooms.
Your fence sounds good, make sure there are no horizontal lats on the fence that they can climb up. These guys can climb very well.
Be sure they have plenty of space, they can be very territorial, also plenty of hides, pile some dried leaves in your enclosure, they will feel secure hiding in leaves.

Dont forget the photos when you get them. :)

Hi, what exactly is a watering hole?
What types of plants is suitable for their shelter?
 

hingeback

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Hi and welcome.
@tortadise is your man for this species.

Dont know about Philippine grass.
Homes hingebacks (homeana) love rain.
This species needs to be kept very humid and wet. They need a watering hole to climb into. Mine love to sit in the water all day. Your temps should be around the 25° mark.

You can't just feed greens, they have a very large appetite for protein. In the form of worms,slugs and snails. Also feed plenty of mushrooms.
Your fence sounds good, make sure there are no horizontal lats on the fence that they can climb up. These guys can climb very well.
Be sure they have plenty of space, they can be very territorial, also plenty of hides, pile some dried leaves in your enclosure, they will feel secure hiding in leaves.

Dont forget the photos when you get them. :)

Hi, what exactly is a watering hole?
What types of plants is suitable for their shelter?
 

Anyfoot

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Hi, what exactly is a watering hole?
What types of plants is suitable for their shelter?
Sorry. It's just somewhere they can get into the water. I use cat litter trays for now. But make sure its level to the substrate.
 

hingeback

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Thanks, could it be muddy, because our outdoor habitat is clay soil.
A few more questions,

How often and how much should I feed it? (I don't know what age it is yet)
Do I need to feed it worms, mushrooms and greens every time I feed it?
What size of water dish should I provide it(how deep too)
Does it need a mud pool?
 

Anyfoot

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Thanks, could it be muddy, because our outdoor habitat is clay soil.
A few more questions,

How often and how much should I feed it? (I don't know what age it is yet)
Do I need to feed it worms, mushrooms and greens every time I feed it?
What size of water dish should I provide it(how deep too)
Does it need a mud pool?
Feed everyday, dont forget they eat fruit too.
I had problems with mine not eating greens. They ate all the fruit,mushrooms and worms, but not the greens.
So I backed off a bit with worms and slugs. Now they are eating more greens.

If I was you I'd feed greens and everyday, and alternate the worms and fruit to every other day mixed into the greens. Just keep an eye on her for not eating the greens.
As for depth if water, better wait to see what size your Tortoise is. It could be 50mm or 200mm in size.

To get mine to eat greens I also stopped spraying the water daily to see if they naturally associate worms,slugs etc with wet(rain).
So at the moment mine are having a semi dry period. In a few months I'll make it wet again and see what happens.
But for you for now keep her wet and humid. Your rainfall should be good for her.
 

hingeback

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Thanks, what vegetables and fruits should I feed and what grass are you feeding yours? Also should I provide her a mud pool and will she get affected by mud?
 

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